THE SNOW LIONS OF CHITTAGONG

Nearly 4,000 Tibetan soldiers fought alongside Indian forces for Bangladesh’s liberation, yet their contribution remains largely forgotten

- BY KELSANG AUKATSANG

Two cars pulled into 1 Safdarjung Road, New Delhi, on a mid-October morning in 1971.

A civil war was raging in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), and close to 10 million refugees had fled across the border to India. The spectre of another war between India and Pakistan hung over New Delhi. The two countries were already jostling geopolitically—Islamabad had secured American and Chinese support, while the Soviets had New Delhi's back.

A tall gentleman, elegantly dressed in a dark suit and tie, stepped out of the first car. This was R.N. Kao, India's legendary spymaster and founder of RAW (the Research and Analysis Wing), and one of prime minister Indira Gandhi's trusted aides.

The second car dropped off a Sikh gentleman, also in a suit, and an Asian man. The two were Major General S.S. Uban, inspector general of the Special Frontier Force (SFF, also known as Establishment 22), and Jampa Kalden Aukatsang, the senior-most Tibetan military officer at 22—its first chief political officer and Dapon. In the Tibetan army, that title was the equivalent of a general and chief of the army. Jampa had just returned from Demagiri, a village on the border with Bangladesh. Demagiri was also the launch point for Operation Eagle, the secret 22 mission that was about to begin. Uban was Jampa's commanding officer, in charge of Establishment 22 and overseeing Mujib Bahini (officially the Bangladesh Liberation Force) training and operations.

The three were ushered into the prime minister's presence. She looked at Jampa and asked, in Hindi, "Have you come from the Assam border, from Demagiri? How is the situation there, and the morale of the Mujib Bahini people?"